Now let's talk about the different levels which exist within each precept. The depth to which you value a precept depends on you and your practice. The worst infraction of the first precept is to kill another human being. If you kill another person, then you have permanently broken the precept for this lifetime. Even if you repent your action you cannot take the first precept again. Other than this extreme infraction, the first precept can vary from individual to individual. Killing any animal, whether it be a cow, a dog, or a cockroach, goes against the first precept, but humans have a lot of anger and desire created by deep-rooted habits. Being in samsara, we are vulnerable to countless vexations. Even serious Buddhists will kill ants and mosquitoes if they interfere with daily life. If you value the precept on one level, you may not kill a cockroach, but on another level you might. It depends on you and your commitment to the precept.

In regard to animals, if you kill them, and are aware of your actions, and later repent your actions, then the first precept remains intact. If someone were to take an extreme position and say all killings are equal and unrepentable, then nobody would take the precept, and people would drift away from Buddhadharma. Precepts are malleable.

Again, only if you kill another person is the precept broken. Otherwise, precepts can be forsaken, but not broken. If you know that you may kill someone, such as during war, then you should officially return the precept. Afterward, you can take the precept again. This is permissible, because during the time that you killed, you were not a Buddhist. And, if you violate the precept to a lesser degree, you can repent and continue to keep it.

STUDENT:

Wait a second. If you return the first precept because you know that you are going to kill someone, that's premeditated murder. How do you explain that? Also, what happens if you kill someone accidentally after taking the precept?

SHIH-FU: